Mediagazer: Australia says it will include YouTube in its ban on social media for children under 16 years of age, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the platform (Renju Jose/Reuters)

Spotify reports Q2 revenue up 10% YoY to €4.2B, MAUs up 11% to 696M, subscribers up 12% to 276M, and an €86M net loss; SPOT closes down 11.6% after missed est. — The audio streaming service added more listeners than it had forecast, but reported a net loss for the second quarter

Daniel Ek says Spotify's ad business has “been moving too slowly”; Spotify ad chief Lee Brown left on July 28 to join DoorDash as its chief revenue officer — Spotify executives on Tuesday signalled that the departure of its ad chief, Lee Brown, on Monday was in response …

Discussion: Inside Radio, Deadline, Financial Times, @catherineperlo1, Billboard, campaignlive.co.uk, Bloomberg and Axios

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

France's TF1 Group reports H1 2025 revenue up 0.1% YoY to €1.1B, media division revenue down 0.9% YoY to €975M, and Studio TF1 revenue up 6.4% YoY to €128M — France's TF1 Group posted half-year revenue of €1.1B ($1.3B), with dips at its media arm offset by growth at its newly refurbished studios division.

Discussion: Variety and TF1 Group

Rocket Drew / The Information:

Runway and Luma AI say they are talking to robotics and self-driving car companies about their video models and expect these revenue sources to eclipse studios — Imax on Monday announced that it would screen the winning films from Runway's AI-generated film festival at some of its theaters.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Breitbart, PetaPixel, The Wrap, Forbes, The Decoder, The Hollywood Reporter, WinBuzzer and Deadline

Amy Hollyfield / Dallas Morning News:

DallasNews Corporation board rejects Alden-owned MediaNews's bid and accepts an improved merger deal from Hearst, which raised its offer from $14 to $15/share — The board also voted to implement a shareholder rights plan to hold off Alden. — DallasNews Corporation announced Monday …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Bloomberg, Poynter, WFAA-TV, KERA News, @royalpratt, @stufalk.bsky.social and Dallas Business Journal

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Ofcom: YouTube is the second most-watched TV service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of ITV; one in five Gen Alpha viewers turn to YouTube first on their TV — Online video service has overtaken ITV in overall TV viewing figures, though still behind BBC

Discussion: Ofcom, The Standard, Deadline, TVREV, GB News and campaignlive.co.uk

Reuters:

Canal+ reports H1 2025 revenue down 3.3% YoY to €3.09B, free cash flow of €370M, up from €128M in H1 2024, and expects FY 2025 EBITA of ~€515M; CAN jumps 6%+ — French pay-TV company Canal+ (CAN.L) reported a jump in free cash flow in the first half even as revenue fell …

Discussion: Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, Broadcast, Deadline and Canal+

Renju Jose / Reuters:

Australia says it will include YouTube in its ban on social media for children under 16 years of age, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the platform — Australia said on Wednesday it will include Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) YouTube in its world-first ban on social media for teenagers …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Anthony Albanese, Tubefilter, The Guardian, TechSpot, Biometric Update, The Hans India and Nikkei Asia, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Daily Mail consolidates its digital platforms under the name Daily Mail and renames its digital subscription package, which has 325K subscribers, DailyMail+ — Aim is to reach one million paying digital subscribers by October 2028. — The Daily Mail has set a target of reaching …

Discussion: PodcastingToday and Telegraph

Ben Smith / Semafor:

How Fox Corp. has accelerated its roll-up of independent media talent, as it seeks to attract younger viewers through digital and streaming platforms — Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Semafor — If you want a glimpse of the coming consolidation in digital media, take a look at Fox Corp. …

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @simonowens and CNN

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

Bollywood star Aamir Khan's hit Sitaare Zameen Par will be released exclusively on YouTube for digital rental on August 1, sidestepping traditional streamers — Bollywood superstar's latest theatrical hit will be available exclusively on YouTube Movies-on-Demand starting Aug. 1

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Versant names NBC Nightly News executive producer Meghan Rafferty as VP of news standards, where she will set and maintain news standards at CNBC and MSNBC — Rafferty will be VP of news standards, guiding the MSNBC and CNBC news operations once the Versant split is complete.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Adweek, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap and Barrett Media

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Disney says it has completed its 2025-2026 Upfronts with streaming accounting for more than 40% of total volume and sports advertising nearing $4B — Disney Advertising said it's completed its 2025-2026 Upfront with overall volume consisted with the year before despite increased sales in sports and streaming.

Discussion: MediaPost, Sports Business Journal, The Wrap, Adweek, Variety and TVNewsCheck